


Countdown to a Run

by GrayArcadian



Series: Begin Again [2]
Category: Logan's Run (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25331020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayArcadian/pseuds/GrayArcadian
Summary: No prior canon knowledge needed other than everyone dies at 30 unless you Run for it.  Then there are people called Sandmen trying to kill you.Sequel to "Times the Count."  This story explored what Jessica 6's life was like growing up in the City of Domes and about the birth and growth of the Runner movement within the TV series.  This one is canon-compliant, but the setting does not get into civilian life in the City of Domes much, so it's "canon-compliant as much as possible."  We'll also see some of what she knows about Logan prior to meeting him - something the show mentioned but never expanded on.
Relationships: Jessica 6/Logan 5 (Logan's Run)
Series: Begin Again [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740505





	Countdown to a Run

Jessica is roughly five years old.

* * *

Nursery #3 doubled as a botanical garden. The light above, they were told, was meant to simulate the sun to make sure the plants were protected, not just from the poison of the Earth, Humans were stronger than the plants, they were told. Those born on this level were supposed to manage the growing things of the City - people and plants. They were supposed to make things, too. Not stories or paintings like other artists like those raised in Nursery #5. Nursery #3 was created for practical things like clothing, shoes, and food. 

It was going to be a practical, meaningful life - not an exciting one. They all knew that. It was all going to be orderly from birth to Carousel. So schooling here was all about fun and use. It was about making bread, cleaning the fish pens, and, most important to Jessica, tending the plants. 

Jessica was the first to see an apple on her tree. She woke up every morning before lessons to see the little white flower just out of her reach become a small little bulb that grew and grew just a bit more every day. She used to sing to it. She heard from her teachers that plants liked music, and that was the reason for the low level of constant birdsong and the low level of hum from the air from the circulators.

There were other apples that joined the growing bud on the tree. Her teachers were proud of her. Jessica remembered the first one, though. Her friend. His maturity was slower than the other apples for some reason, so she cheered for him more. She promised she’d make him into something sweet when his time came for all his effort. 

But one day she came to the tree and all the apples were gone.

“Mother,” she asked the computer she knew wasn’t her real mother. Humans came from humans like apples came from apple seeds that grew into trees that made more apples. “Where is my apple?”

“The apples were harvested last night.”

“He wasn’t ready!” she protested.  
  
“Define, ‘he,’ Jessica 6.”

“Frederick 1. The apple. He wasn’t ready yet. He wasn’t all the way red!”

“The apples are harvested 135 days from flower fertilization.”

Jessica stomped her foot. “Give him back!”

“Define, ‘he,’ Jessica 6.”

Mother was usually smart! “Frederick 1. The apple that was right here.”

“The apples are harvested 135 days from flower fertilization,” Mother repeated.

She scanned the room in a rage. There in the corner! The older children were packing them. Without a second thought, she ran over and dove into the main apple bin. There were shouts from the teachers and gasps from older kids. She remembered there were threats and she kicking a few as they tried to grab her, but she was on a mission. She lashed out, making a last grasp at one that looked like Fredrick 1 before two people pulled her out by the legs, scaping her hard against the bin's edge.

But she took one, sour bite from the fruit before they shook her wrist so hard she dropped him with a soft thunk, and someone took him away from the ground by her bare feet. The slap of the teacher and the extra cleaning duty was worth it. She’d been right. Fredrick hadn't been ready.

**Author's Note:**

> "Fraile is our happiness, if this be so, / And Eden were no Eden thus expos'd." (Paradise Lost Book 9)
> 
> Yeah, yeah. I couldn't resist. 
> 
> I know in the book they mention Jessica's occupation as a leatherworker. I want a nod to that, but I also want a broader set of skills for Jessica. I'm taking the idea of a Waldorf-style education format for Nursury Three and perverting it because the City doesn't have much in the way of nice things beyond a certain point. In real life Waldorf schooling is pretty nifty and hands-on elementary education style.


End file.
